92 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
ART. XIV.— ON POLYGALA SENEGA. By Richard Price. 
(Extract from Inaugural Thesis.*) 
Supposing, from the analogy in the appearance of the in- 
ternal structure of the senega and ipecacuanha, that similar 
treatment might extract their active principles, I submitted a 
quantity of the root to the process for procuring Emetia, and 
also to several modifications of it, without obtaining anything 
satisfactory. 
A fresh portion of the senega was then boiled in successive 
portions of alcohol, until it came off tasteless; the residue was 
boiled in water as long as this extracted anything. The tinc- 
ture and decoction were both filtered while hot, and after 
cooling, were evaporated to dryness. The tincture deposited 
as it cooled, a yellow substance, supposed from examination to 
be wax. [No. 1.] 
The extracts were then submitted to the following experi- 
ments: 
First. The alcoholic extract was treated with ether, in suc- 
cessive portions, to remove some fatty matter which floated 
on the surface of the tincture, when nearly evaporated. By 
afterwards evaporating the ether, it left a brown residue, hav- 
ing an extremely nauseous smell and taste, and separable into 
two distinct substances; one a greenish yellow, semifluid oil, 
soluble in cold alcohol and ether, insoluble in water, not ap- 
preciably volatile, though when heated, giving off a slight 
smell resembling senega. The other, a dark brown, nearly 
solid fatty matter, insoluble in cold alcohol or ether, soluble 
in those fluids when boiling, and precipitating as the solution 
cools. 
* We owe it to the authors of this, and the subsequent paper, to state 
that the only reason for their omission in the last volume, was owing to 
our having mislaid the extracts we made, soon after they were placed in 
our hands. 
